Buying His New Bicycle

haibun poetry
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Haibun

Frankie leaves his bike by the Toys”R”Us customer service desk. Someone already put a sign on it: “bike exchange.”

“Think of all the joy another boy as old as you were will get riding it,” I say.

“Yeah,” he answers.

As we walk toward the bicycle section, I realize that he isn’t crying. This is the first time he’s left something of his behind without doing so.

April sun
a pickup of his long deferred
Christmas gift

He looks at three bikes, sits on two, rides one. It’s a 21-speed Schwinn mountain bike in green and black, with a white front fender. Twenty-four inch wheels and an adjustable seat give him plenty of growing room.

He says he loves it. He even rides it to his friend Olivia’s across the street, after we return home.

As soon as he’s there, however, he parks it.

afternoon shadows
a brand-new mountain bike
forgotten

more by FRANK J. TASSONE

photo by Riccardo Chiarini on Unsplash

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Frank J. Tassone

Frank J. Tassone lives in New York City's "back yard" with his wife and son. He fell in love with writing after he wrote his first short story at age 12 and his first poem in high school. He began writing haiku and haibun seriously in the 2000s. His haikai poetry has appeared in Failed Haiku, Cattails, Haibun Today, Contemporary Haibun Online, Contemporary Haibun, The Haiku Foundation and Haiku Society of America member anthologies. He is a contributing poet for the online literary journal Image Curve, and a performance poet with Rockland Poets. When he's not writing, Frank works as a special education high school teacher in the Bronx. When he's not working or writing, he enjoys time with his family, meditation, hiking, practicing tai chi and geeking out to Star Wars, Marvel Cinema and any other Sci-Fi/Fantasy film and TV worth seeing.

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3 Responses

  1. Alan Summers says:

    Loved it! Wonderful treatment of the inconsistencies of childhood, which I remember all too with myself. A classic case is a haibun going into the next Narrow Road Literary Magazine of Flash Fiction – Poetry – Haibun .

    Quietly brilliant haibun, thank you Frank, it really resonates.

    warm regards,
    Alan
    President, United Haiku and Tanka Society
    co-founder, Call of the Page
    http://www.callofthepage.org

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